as easy as breathing
by tofusaurus
Summary: There's always some truth in legends, you know? Of course, I knew that too. But, like the idiot I am, I continued to believe that they were just legends. Then, my brother and I got the fever. I'm Micah Call, I'm fifteen and the twin sister of Embry Call. My interests include dance and music, I enjoy long walks on First Beach and the occasional cliff dive, and I am a Protector.
1. Chapter 1

There's always some truth in legends, you know?

Of course, I knew that too. But, like the idiot I am, I continued to sit there and believe that they were just silly old legends and that Uley, Lahote, and Cameron were all buff and running at temperatures that should kill someone because of steroids.

Then, my brother and I got the fever. We felt fine, but every time someone made skin contact with us, they'd freak out over how hot our skin was. Then, there was the major growth spurts. Seeing that we are fifteen going on sixteen, I knew we were going to keep growing, but hitting six feet (and counting, in Embry's case) in the span of two and a half weeks was a little outrageous.

My name is Micah Call, I'm fifteen and am the older twin sister of Embry Call. My interests include dance and music, I enjoy long walks on First Beach and the occasional cliff dive, and I am a Protector.

* * *

Embry's temper had been ridiculous lately. Nearly anything would piss him off, and if it really bothered him, he'd start _trembling,_ and there was only so much I could do to keep him calm y'know? After about a week of him throwing fits, I finally forced him to stay home. Going to school without my brother was as unnerving as it usually was whenever we were separated. I mean we did a lot of stuff without each other, but seeing as we were both running dangerously high fevers, it was okay for me to feel lonely and worried. Even though the fever had Embry exploding at every slight annoyance, I was just really overheated. I was sweating constantly, and nothing I could do would help keep me cool.

"Micah, you do realize you're like two inches short of getting a dress code violation, right?"

I threw a small grin at Jake and Quil as they walked up to my locker where I was gathering my books for my first classes. "Ehhh, it's not that bad. Are you sure it's not hot in here? I've been feeling so hot for the past couple of weeks now." I grumbled, my messy bun flopping on my head as it tried to contain my waist length hair. I looked down at my clothes, eyeing my denim shorts and sleeveless classic rock tee warily. "I have a flannel if they try to tell me something, but I doubt I'll need it." I mumbled.

I felt Quil's thicker arm wrap around my waist as he started leading me to our first class. "I wouldn't say the school is any warmer than normal, however you, my dear, have been looking like _straight fire_! Well, more fire than usual." Quil complimented. While a little greasy, Quil's compliments never failed to put me in a better mood. Jake snorted and smacked the back of Quil's head with his notebook. I let out a cackle as Quil whined and rubbed the back of his head.

"On a serious note," I sighed. "My fevers getting worse, and Embry's just getting more and more sick. I'll probably leave school after lunch and go spend the rest of the day with him. What were you guys gonna do today in the garage?"

Quil immediately began snickering as Jake turned beet red. "Ahhhh," I grinned evilly. "Bella's coming over again, huh?"

"Well, see you in Chem, Micah." Jake rushed out as he sped off to his first period.

Aaaaaaaaand there lies my first of many problems.

You'd think that the growth spurt, and the fever would be at the top of my list of problems, right? Well, with me being the hopeless idiot that I am, my main problem was Jake. Jake, who I have been in love with since we were 12. If we're being totally honest here, it's probably been way longer, but _ew, cooties_.

But, it's all for nothing, because Jake's been in love with Bella Swan since we were toddlers. Now, it's none of my business what Jake decides to do with his love life, but as his best friend? Yes, it is my business. I'm not Bella's biggest fan. At all. In fact, I don't think I've ever disliked another girl more than I do her. She constantly leads Jake on, but then goes back to her pale and twiggy Cullen as soon as he so much as glances in her direction. Granted, the Cullens are gone now, but I still don't trust her after the year she spent dangling her relationship in Jakes face.

You might be speculating favoritism, but you're wrong. I'm overprotective of all my boys, especially Embry and Seth. Quil doesn't take rejection to heart, seeing as he's more into the flirty side of relationships rather than, you know, a _real_ relationship. Embry and Seth however, fall hard. Seth, my actual baby, mind you, has no business looking for a relationship seeing as he's a freshman and needs to focus on school. Embry, well, he's just a hopeless romantic. Our mom probably saw it coming since she named him after a soap opera star.

And Jake, well, he's a special case. Sure, there's that special part of me that hopes Bella fucks up and the Bella/Jake train will crash and burn, but the majority of me wants Jake to be happy. And if it so happens that she makes him happy, I can just continue to slowly die as long as she keeps him that way.

Quil was staring at me with that annoyingly cute sympathetic look on his face, and it took all I could to not smack him and his puppy dog eyes up the head. While he was ignorant about a lot of things, he was annoyingly intuitive to my emotions in particular, picking up on my crush on Jacob even before Embry (who is still clueless.) I rolled my eyes as I looped my arm through his and started tugging him to our seats.

"Micah," he drawled.

"Not now, Quil."

"It's never time to talk about it." He points out.

"Which should be a big indicator that I don't ever want to talk about it." I mumbled, eyes narrowed in an attempt to glare. He just raised an eyebrow at me, face unimpressed. At that moment, our history teacher, Mr. Dwyer, walked in and I took the opportunity to end the conversation as I pulled out my notebook and pencil.

Thankfully, Quil's attention span is that of a squirrels', so when history ended he was more focused on complaining about our research paper to continue nagging me. As we walked out of the classroom and began walking towards our next classes, a pair of skinny arms wrapped around my shoulders as a head of messy hair struggled to peek over my shoulder.

"Micah!" Seth grinned. "Please stop growing, it's hard for me to hug you." He pouted.

I turned around to hug him fully, a grin breaking out on my face. "Seth!" I cheered. I swung my arms around him and smooshed him into my body. "How's my favorite freshman?" I cooed. Quil made a jealous face at me, and when I looked down, I found Seth's faced pressed into my chest. I just raised an eyebrow at Quil, daring him to challenge me. Meanwhile, Seth was pushing lightly at my waist, face burning as he tried to put a little bit more space between us. "Micah…" He whined. I pouted as I reluctantly released him stepping back to let him speak.

"My mom wanted to know if you and Em were going to be over for dinner sometime this week. I know Leah's been a little… _testy_ lately," Quil snorted at that. Leah, Seth's older sister, had been completely unbearable ever since Sam broke up their engagement, and I really don't blame her. Sam was a douche for doing what he did to her, and I don't know how he managed to drag sweet Emily into this shit show. Seth shot a glare at Quil before continuing. "…but she's a little less angry when you're around." I just raised my eyebrows at Seth in an unimpressed fashion.

"Seth, she only likes me a lot right now because I don't try to make her talk to me. We literally just sit there and watch the goriest scary movies while she imagines different ways to murder Sam."

"But, she's happier with you and that's all that matters!" Seth retorted, smiling widely.

"Seth I really wish I could, but Em and I just keep getting more and more si—'' My sentence was cut off as my vision went black, I could feel myself swinging backwards until a pair of slightly muscled arms caught me. "Quil..." I murmured.

"Micah!" The two boys exclaimed.

"I think you shouldn't wait until after lunch." Quil rushed out as he placed his hand on my forehead. "In fact," he continued speaking quickly. "I think you need to go home right now. C'mon, I'll sign you out and drive you home."

I just nodded my head in agreement, waving my hand limply at Seth as Quil began to lead me towards the main office.

By the time we got to the truck, I was blacked out.

* * *

I groaned as I felt someone throw my arm over their shoulder, but calmed slightly when I took in the scent of Embry.

"She just blacked out?!" he angrily whispered. I could hear Quil nervously adjust in his seat as he tried to keep calm.

"Listen, Em, I brought her home as soon as it happened, I would have sent her home right away if I had known she was _that_ sick!" Quil whispered back. Embry didn't bother to reply before he slammed the door of the truck close and carried me into our house. I slowly raised my hand and patted him on the arm.

"Could've been nicer to 'im…" I mumbled. "He didn't do anything wrong. 'ts my fault… shouldn have gone to school…"

Embry just grumbled to himself as he took me inside and placed me at a chair at our kitchen table. I slowly lowered my forehead to the cool table as Embry went around the kitchen before coming back with a glass of water and two Ibuprofen.

"You know," I started, pausing to drink my medicine. "We're probably sick because you went skinny dipping at first beach that one time when it was 20 degrees out."

Embry scoffs, and I know I've already ticked him off. "Well I didn't see you stopping me. Actually, you were betting on me!" He argues. I don't really know why he got defensive so quickly, but the weirder part is that I'm getting defensive just as quickly.

"Oh, that's _great_ Embry, just blame everything on me, that makes everything easier, doesn't it?" I grumbled, rolling my eyes as I took my glass to the sink. A loud snap broke the tense air of the house, my eyes snapped back towards Embry to see the top of our wooden kitchen chair splintering in his closed fist. His right hand was clenched tightly by his side, and his whole body was shaking.

Before I knew it, I was screaming. "Jesus Christ, Embry, that's just freaking amazing! Break all of our furniture while you're at it! I mean it's not like we're struggling to survive!" I could feel tremors making their way through my whole body, and had to force myself outside.

 _When had it got so hot?_

"We can just get Jake to fix all that shit!" Embry snarled. I heard his huge gorilla feet stomping behind me as he followed me to the woods that resided behind the edge of our backyard.

"And that's another thing!" He started as he caught up to me. "Don't think I don't know your little secret!" The silence that followed that statement was sickening and I could feel my heart climb up inside my throat. But, of course, my stupid self couldn't just leave it at that. "Oh yeah?" I egged on, turning around to face him as I continued to lead us through the woods backwards.

"Yeah! It's so obvious that you like Jake!" Embry hissed.

See, if I was smart, I would have managed to keep a straight face. Maybe even deny the accusation. But, I'm a dumbass, so I let the shock, terror, and embarrassment be expressed clearly on my face. Fuck, _was I spluttering?_

My so-called twin began to grin at me, but it wasn't his usual warm grin, or the grin he wore when he heard a geeky joke that had him laughing so hard he wanted to cry. No, he was baring his teeth at me, and whatever he was going to say next, he wanted it to _hurt._

"Embry, you need to stop!" I growled, not even noticing that a growl was actually rumbling in my throat.

"The best part though," He chuckles. "The best part though, is that you keep having this _pathetic_ crush on Jake, when-"

"EMBRY!" I'm snarling, the holler tears from my throat as he stalks forward to get in my face and snarl.

"When he won't ever love you! Because he's so obsessed with Isabella _fucking_ Swan!"

 _I can't believe him why would he say that he's supposed to be my brother why is it so goddamn hothothothothot –_ All the rage boiling up inside me has me pouncing on Embry with a furious yell, but as I'm flying through the air, a strange _RIP_ rings out in the stark silence of the forest, the forest still except for the sound of Embry and I bursting out of our skin and the impact of our bodies smacking together.

Except, it's not our bodies anymore.

Well, not our human ones.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: hi guys! um this is my first ever published ff here, so please try and bear with me as I figure out how to use the site ^^ I already had to hop around and change a lot of things (...like the rating, lmao. it was mostly for language, I don't think I'll be writing any sexual content anytime soon.) anyways, this is my twilight girl shifter brain child that I've had stuck in my head for...probably over two years, at the least. lemme know what you think! I'm trying really hard to make Micah as realistic of a 15 year old girl as much as possible, so keep in mind that she will make a lot of childish mistakes... since she is a child/teenager, lol. also, this fic is going to be slow burn as heck... so... just a heads up lol I'm kind of writing as I go along, so I'm not sure if updates are going to be regular. I'm going to try, though! sorry if this a/n is too long, I just kinda wanna get a lot of stuff out of the way, first. um, I think that's it...so don't be afraid to leave reviews and stuff! try to keep them constructive though, in case y'all really don't like it that much, lol oh, yeah! this starts off in new moon! just in case you were a little lost :)**

We don't even notice the change in our bodies as we start to fight, growling and snapping at each other.

 _FUCK YOU, EMBRY, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!_

 _EAT SHIT MICAH!_

 _Jesus, don't you two ever shut up._

 ** _SHUT THE FUCK UP PAUL!_**

Paul's voice cackles in my head, and that's when I realize somethings up. _Even when you two hate each other's guts you say shit in sync._

That's when I start to notice how clear everything is, and how there's two giant wolves in front of me.

 _JESUS CHRIST THERE'S A GODDAMN WOLF IN FRONT OF ME!_ I try to back up, but end up tripping, and when I look down at my feet I see _fucking paws._

 _What. The. Fuck._

 _What Micah said._

The wolf I'm pretty sure is Embry is whimpering, and as I look at the hazel colored eyes I see every day in the mirror, I realize I'm whimpering too.

The snapping of leaves and twigs to our left alerts us of two more wolves. _Sam and Jared._

The black wolf snorts, tilting his head a little to the right.

 _Embry, we were expecting. Micah, not so much._ Jared's voice rings out through the "mind link" and I hear the growl coming out of my throat before I can stop it.

 _Ooh, feisty._ Paul snickers. My growl grows louder as I focus my attention to the gray wolf on my right. Embry flanks my left side and gives a sharp warning growl. Sam gives a loud bark, snapping us all to attention.

 _You both need to calm down. I'm sure you're confused._

Embry and I look at each other and learn that rolling your eyes is a lot harder as a wolf.

 _If you both could stop being jackasses, I could start explaining._ Sam says, his irritation sharp in his tone.

 _Well, damn, okay. The floor is yours._ I nudge Em's shoulder with mine as I finish speaking, prompting him to try and sit down first, and giving me the chance to laugh as he fails. Embry growls and snaps his teeth at me, but it's playful and has no real anger to it like before.

And that's how we learn that everything we grew up with was true. Taha Aki and the spirit warriors, the cold ones, and the Cullens. Embry and I look at each other as the revelation of what the Cullens really are settles in, an understanding passing between us as we figure out Bella's place in this mess. My snout twitches in irritation as I bring my attention back to Sam, straightening up to my full height. Which, brings me to about the guys slouched height when shifted.

 _So, you're saying this is going to happen to a lot of the kids here until the universe decides we have a big enough "pack" to take on the cold ones._

Sam nods his head, and makes sure his voice is hard as he delivers his next statement.

 _We_ _ **are**_ _a pack now, Micah. There's no changing that. We are your brothers just as much as you are our sister. We may not have thought girls would have the gene, but that just means we'll have to keep an eye out for some of the other girls on the reservation._ I feel a pit fall to the bottom of my stomach as I realize that I'm the only girl here, and could possibly stay the only girl. There has to be some reason as to why this is even happening when there hasn't ever been a girl protector, and I can literally feel my heart racing as Sam and Embry try to calm me.

 _Micah, you need to calm down, we can't begin trying to teach you to phase back if you're panicking like this._ Jared says, and I shoot a warning growl in his direction as Paul says _Jesus, dude, you don't tell a girl to calm down._

 ** _Micah._** Sam barks. _I know it feels like the end of the world, but I need you to breathe, okay? I know everything's confusing, but we're pack now. As your Alpha, I promise that we're going to get through this together So, just_ _ **breathe.**_ As he's saying this, memories flash in front of my eyes, of Sam's first shift, how scared and confused he was. He flashes memories of Paul and Jared's first shifts, too, and how they were so lost when Sam found them. And ultimately, how they got through everything.

My breathing calms down enough for me to feel Embry worriedly nuzzling his snout against mine, and I can finally hear him yipping softly. _Wow, first girl werewolf, and first werewolf to have a panic attack. Way to go, Micah!_ Paul's sarcastic comment has me whirling around and stalking towards him, snarling wildly. _You wanna fucking go, Paul?!_ My voice is resonating through the mind link, and all four of the boys pause and stare at me, oddly expressive for wolves.

 _…That's enough, both of you._

 _Jesus, Micah, we've only been werewolves for an hour and you're already probably the scariest out of all five of us._ Embry says, and a feeling of relief washes over me as he hasn't spoken once throughout this entire ordeal. I just huff and sit down, staring at Sam expectantly.

 _So,_ I start. _How do we phase back?_

Sam seems hesitant to continue, and tells Paul and Jared to grab Embry and I some clothes. As soon as he's sure they're no longer shifted, he brings his attention back to us.

 _I don't know if you noticed, but our clothes don't shift with us. You guys came a good mile away from where you first shifted, but if you go back, you'll find your clothes in scraps._ That feeling of dread from before, washes back over me as he continues. _Nudity is something you both will get comfortable with quickly, but I figured you'd both be more comfortable phasing back for the first time without Jared and Paul being assholes in the background. In order to phase back, you need to picture yourself in your most natural state, it should come naturally the less you think about it. It will take some practice, but eventually, shifting will feel as natural as breathing._

Embry and I glance at each other wearily, not sure we'll ever be comfortable being naked around people. We're obviously not comfortable naked around each other, but figure that just each other and Sam is better than having an actual audience (in the form of Jackasses 1 and 2.)

Embry and I begin trying to phase back, ignoring the thoughts of Sam and ourselves, completely focused on trying to shift back correctly. Oddly enough, after we get past the obvious differences in body types, our thoughts ring out in sync. _Straight nose, dimpled chin, full lips, Mom's eyes._

When our hazel colored eyes open, we're at a shorter height than before, and when I look down at my hands, I'm glad to see actual hands and fingers instead of paws. "Nice." The word comes out of my mouth without me even noticing, but the catcall that whistles in the air is enough for me to go running behind Sam, who is shifted and clothed. "Wow, Micah!" Paul leers, and Jared's grinning and rolling his eyes from where he stands next to him, a pile of clothes in each of their arms.

"I knew you were hot, but now I have a whole new appreciation!" Embry's sharp growl is enough to get Paul and Jared to at least pretend they weren't checking me out as he stomps towards them and rips the piles of clothes from their arms. He hands a pile to Sam, and immediately begins pulling on the shorts that were handed to him. I just sort of eye Jackasses 1 and 2 warily as I quickly pull on my shorts and cropped hoodie behind Sam.

I don't even bother trying to get mad at them for going into my room without my permission, knowing I'm going to have to get used to all types of invasions of privacy now that we're a _pack._ As Sam mutters something about haircuts, he begins to lead the way to his house, telling Jared to get Emily to leave the house until Embry and I leave the premise.

"You don't gotta worry about me, boss. I'm as cool as a cucumber." I grin up at him. He just kind of rolls his eyes (a little fondly, in my opinion) as he tells me he'd rather not risk anything. "Hey, speaking of," Jared interjects. "How'd you get away with not having meltdowns? Part of the reason we didn't think you would shift, besides, you know, the obvious, was because you didn't show any of the usual signs until your first shift, I assume." Embry twitches slightly at the insinuation that he was easily susceptible to meltdowns, but I just pat his arm as I shrug off Jared's question. "I don't know, maybe it's just 'cause girls are better than boys." I grin sharply.

Jared just rolls his eyes as we make our way into Sam and Emily's home. And that's what it is. Home. Maybe not my home, but there was a scent that covered the house, a scent that was undeniably, _home._ No, wait… it was _pack._ I could feel my body relaxing as Jared and Paul flopped themselves on the couch, watching us out of the corner of their eyes with smiles on their faces. "Yeah," Jared says. "This place does that to you." I grin and lock eyes with Embry, who's giving the same square shaped grin back at me.

"So," Sam begins. "We have a lot to discuss. We have a lot of responsibilities, and it's not going to be easy. You're going to have to sacrifice a lot, but what we do is important here in La Push. I want you guys to remember that when things get hard." He finishes, a very serious look on his face. I'm honestly a little shocked because he's not actually an asshole. Ever since that stuff with Leah happened, which I guess now has something to do with the whole wolf thing, I thought he was the biggest dick alive. But, really, he was just put in a difficult situation, it seems. Embry and I glance at each other out of the corner of our eyes as we take seats on opposite sides of the large wooden table in the living room. Sam takes a deep breath as he begins to lay out the details of what we do. Then, he gets to the hard stuff.

"You guys aren't in control right now, so you aren't allowed to make any contact with others until I say you can. It's for the general safety of those close to you, because if you get ticked off and shift too close to someone they _will_ get hurt." Realization dawns on me as I recall the "bear" attack Emily was in. Now we know it wasn't a bear attack. Embry begins to open his mouth but I shoot him a look from the corner of my eye, and he promptly closes his mouth. Sam grimaces but nods his head solemnly, and that's all the confirmation we need.

He clears his throat before he begins again. "So, that means no school, no going home to talk to your mom, especially about the mess you left, and no Jacob or Quil." The last one has Embry and I's heads shooting up and our mouths immediately opening to protest.

"No." "No way!" We exclaim. Sam's expression hardens, and the next thing that comes out hits us hard. Literally.

" **That is an** ** _order!"_** He shouts. Our bodies lock up, and our heads duck in response to the harsh command. My face pinches together as I glare up at him.

"We can't just ignore them! Jake already thinks something's up with the way you all stare him down, if we ignore him he's going to hate us! And Quil's totally clueless!" I argue. Embry continues to look down, but nods sharply at my response.

"Micah, that is **enough.** " Sam growls out. My glare hardens as I fight the urge to submit again.

"No! I refuse. We'll make excuses, we won't hang out around them, but we will **not** completely ignore them. I'm not going to put them through that." I growl back.

" ** _Micah, you will not speak or even look at Jacob Black or Quil Ateara until I give you permission to do so! Do you understand?!_** " He commands, a loud growl reverberating throughout the small cottage. I snarl but my head drops in submission, I don't mean to, but I even bare my neck a little bit. It seems as if that was all I could fight. The silence in the cottage is deafening, and no one says anything until Sam takes his glare off of me and rolls his shoulders back. Paul is, of course, the first one to open his mouth.

"Damn. She's gonna give you a run for your money, Sam." Everyone turns to shoot him a glare in response, and he simply gives back a nonchalant grin.

It breaks the tension, though. Just long enough for Sam to shock us once again.

"Now, it's time for haircuts." Embry and I turn to look at him with wide eyes as dread fills our stomachs.

"About that…" I begin. "Can't I wait until we can get someone here who knows how to cut girl hair? No offense, but I don't want to look like a matching part of the set, y'know?"

Sam offers a wry grin in response. "Sorry, Micah. You need your hair cut now or else you'll keep tripping all over your fur when you phase." Embry pats my back in sympathy.

"Hey, you could do it? You used to be good at giving yourself haircuts." He offers. I give him a glare, and roll my eyes.

"I was six, Em. I don't exactly want to end up with choppy hair like that now."

"Well, it's either you do it, or Paul shaves your head." Jared offers. I snarl at them and point an accusing finger at Paul.

"You even think about it, Lahote, and I'll rip you a new one." I threaten. He just waggles his eyebrows in response, waving an arm towards the bathroom.

"Well, you better get in there and do it yourself, then, princess. It's either you, or me, and I get a little clipper crazy, y'know?" A growl rips through my throat as I stomp towards the bathroom.

"Oh yeah," I hear Jared say. "The pack just keeps getting more and more fun."


End file.
